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Tag: action

I sort of wish I’d rewatched The Force Awakens before going to see The Last Jedi. In part because it would have been fun. But also because I kept getting Rey’s childhood mixed up with Jyn’s from Rogue One. Every time they said she didn’t know who her parents were I thought, “Yes, she does they made her run away when she was little but she knew who they were.” About half way through the movie, I remembered that was Jyn and not Rey. In the end, though, I really liked what they did with her parents. Someone like Rose. […]

You know those movies where the crew says they’re probably all going to die but they go in and fight against impossible odds and manage to (mostly) survive? Rogue One isn’t that story. This is good, gritty sci-fi. It’s rough characters that would be more complex in a smaller movie but are interesting enough in this one. It’s a decent story but with all the sci-fi and the characters it doesn’t need to be much more than that. Rogue One starts off a bit choppy. The prologue works well and sets a good foundation for both Jyn (Felicity Jones) and […]

I really, really wanted to love Huntsman: Winter’s War. Really. Like one of my new favorite movies kind of love. It’s fantasy action adventure which is like my perfect genre. It’s pretty and well made. It has an AMAZING song in the trailer (and I love good trailers). I wanted it to be as good as that song. As exciting. As full of passion and danger and fearlessness. It is full of interesting female characters who drive the story. And it stars Chris Hemsworth! How is this not one of the best movies ever made? Because it isn’t. And you […]

Star Wars is once again delighting audiences, though I don’t know that it deserves quite the box office records its setting. Definitely better than the prequels, The Force Awakens introduces delightful new characters, leverages nostalgia to reinvent this universe and does it well. Full disclosure: I am not a Star Wars fan. Of course I grew up watching the original three on VHS. I saw the extended cuts in theaters and liked the originals better. I watched the prequels with excitement (until I actually saw Episode I) and curiosity. I know the first Star Wars is Episode IV and not […]

I went into this film with an open mind. No, that’s a lie. I did go into it wanting to be proved wrong; hoping Peter Jackson would impress me with how he pulled it all off. Didn’t work out so well. The story ends before the title card! I’m sorry that’s kind of a spoiler, but really if it happens BEFORE THE TITLE CARD OF THE FILM can it really be considered a spoiler? If so, then I apologize. I was admittedly rolling my eyes a few times rather liberally after that start. Because my trust in this film was […]

I did not expect to love Days of Future Past the way I did. The concept was complicated and convoluted. There were stories from the set about the script changing or this or that going wrong. I didn’t love any of the earlier films in the franchise, even though X-Men was always my favorite cast of comic characters growing up. I actually feel like a lot of the franchise was really mishandled prior to this film. But that’s the cool thing about Days of Future Past – it’s this remarkable reset button. And it’s actually an X-Men movie done well. […]

There were a lot of things in Captain America: The Winter Soldier that were a lot of fun. Not the least of which is Captain America himself. Even so, it wasn’t quite what I expected. It was much more real world than prior Marvel movies, I think even more so than the Iron Man films. Because Tony Stark as a billionaire playboy doesn’t resemble much of real life even when he’s not in the suit. It almost didn’t even quite feel like a super hero movie. Which I liked. It took this very fantastic universe and grounded it in a […]

My star rating would make Divergent seem like a nice, average, run of the mill kind of movie. But if you keep reading you’ll see it’s actually a slightly impressive adaption. Because apparently YA books are hard to adapt. But what Hollywood is finally figuring out (how many adaptations later?) is that the thing you need to do is let the movie deviate from the book; let it breathe and stretch and be a movie instead of a visual enactment of the book. Kel and I have been saying this for ages – you have to just make a good […]

So, my review for Catching Fire will be littered with recommendations of other (better) books. Because you can’t really talk about Catching Fire without talking about the book and I was really impressed that they managed to make a better movie than it was a book. I was a bit wary going into this movie. I just finished reading The Dream Thieves and Catching Fire can’t come close to those characters. And the intrigue. And the way the story sinks into you. I’m not sure it would make a great movie but it’s an amazing story. How many times have […]

Be forewarned: my review of the second Hobbit film is kind of vague and philosophical more than my usual analysis. Because there’s not much to say. This has the feel of a story pulled apart and so half formed. There’s new characters but no depth in their relationships or interactions. Tauriel’s relationship with Legolas and his relationship with his father and all the possible intricacies and tension and… we’re given nothing. Even though I think the elves (and the credit song) are the best part of the whole thing. There’s action and great production values, but there was no doubt […]